Media Kit - Experience

JCC Maccabi Games®

Lenny Silberman
Vice-President, Program Services, Continental Director, JCC Maccabi Games

LENNY SILBERMAN, a native of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, has spent his professional life working to instill the value of sports and outdoor activities into the Jewish community. After receiving a baccalaureate degree from Pennsylvania State University, he served as the athletic director at the JCC of Greater Pittsburgh for 10 years. Following that, he assumed the position of director at the Emma Kaufmann Camp, (the Pittsburgh JCC's resident camp), where he remained for seven summers.

Currently, Lenny is the continental director of the JCC Maccabi Games, as well as supervisor of JCC Association’s camping and athletic consultants. The JCC Maccabi Games are an annual international Olympic style sporting and cultural event for 6,500 Jewish teens aged 13-16 that take place each summer in five host communities.

Lenny currently sits on the boards of Maccabi USA and Sports for Israel. Additionally, he represents JCC Association to the United States Olympic Committee (USOC). He has recently joined the nonprofit board of Citizenship Through Sports.

Lenny sits on additional boards related to the camping world. He was a member of the board of directors to the American Camping Association, the North American Alliance of Jewish Youth, and the Camp American Board. Through his involvement with these organizations, as well as his work with the JCC Maccabi Games, he is kept up-to-date on the relevant issues that today’s teens face. In addition, he has expertise in program planning, administration, sports management, and building and maintaining relationships with sponsors.

Lenny was recently inducted into the Western Pennsylvania Jewish Sports Hall of Fame, where he is an honorary life member.

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JCC Maccabi Israel

JCC Maccabi ArtsFest

Arlene Sorkin
Director, JCC Maccabi ArtsFest
Originally from Philadelphia, ARLENE SORKIN moved to New York in March, 2005 from Detroit, where she co-founded IlluminArt Productions, a company that uses theater for prevention education. Prior to starting IlluminArt, Arlene was a program director for the Michigan Jewish AIDS Coalition (MJAC). She produced the annual fundraising event "Celebrating Life" (1999 - 2002), with the casts of the Broadway touring companies of Sunset Boulevard, Cabaret, Ragtime, Saturday Night Fever, and South Pacific. Arlene chaired many events over the years as a JCC volunteer while living in New Orleans, Pittsburgh, and Wilmington, Delaware. In metro Detroit, she chaired the opening ceremonies of the JCC Macabbi Games in 1998, performed with the Festival Dancers in residence at the JCC and with the Bel Canto Women's Choir. She has a bachelor's degree in business administration from Temple University and a Master's in Social Work from Bryn Mawr School of Social Work and Social Research. "I am thrilled to be involved in this exciting new initiative," Arlene says, "which will give teens the opportunity to express themselves through the arts as they explore their own Jewish journeys."

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